Stories of secession: Choosing non-state schools in Ontario

The provision for provincial systems of education with their respective measures for protecting the instruction of the religious minority has been called the "great compromise" upon which the Canadian confederation rests. The enduring legacy of this compromise for the province of Ontario, one of the four founding provinces, includes the presence of two thriving systems of publicly-funded education, public secular and public separate (Roman Catholic), schools. While almost 94 percent of Ontario K-12 students attend such schools, six percent do not. Although this minority represents less than 150,000 students (see Niebert, 2006, and Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents, 2006), the growth over the last four decades in rate of enrolment and in numbers of new schools in the non-state school sector has been much higher than that of the funded sector.;This inquiry sought to investigate reasons and stories parents give for choosing non-state schools in Ontario. The inquiry begins with an analysis of Canadian schooling arrangements and Ontario's unique provisions for non-state schools. Organizational features of schools were analyzed using Russell's (1929), Kandel's (1933) and Allison's (1991) model of interna and externa of schools through a typology of schools developed for this inquiry. Quantitative and qualitative data are then analyzed to investigate reasons contemporary non-state school selectors gave for seceding from state schooling options. The study concludes by drawing on the major findings to reflect on policy options for new schooling arrangements that could better meet twenty-first century opportunities and values.;The data, parental reasons and stories, were collected through an eight-page, 46-question, questionnaire sent to 53 schools (whose heads agreed that their schools would participate). A total of 112 schools, randomly selected from a stratified sample of Ontario's 885 (in 2006-2007) non-state schools were initially approached to participate. Ultimately, 1801 parents from 920 households that had children enrolled in 38 schools participated. Demographic data were collected using items from Statistics Canada questionnaires to facilitate comparisons with Ontario parents with children aged 6--16. Respondents were invited to share a story about their experiences in choosing a non-state school. The 223 stories provided where analyzed in detail to probe parents' experiences and reasons for choosing non-state schools.;The stories were analyzed using NVivo 7 and other recognized methods of qualitative analysis. Interpretation of results was facilitated by triangulating the findings with those generated from quantitative analyses of respondent responses to questionnaire items. A range of thematic reasons for secession from state schools emerged, the most dominant being that of finding a caring, engaging community for children. The significance of this concern for parents seeking alternative educational settings for their children is supported by and, in the findings emerging from this study, further extends those reported in Bosetti's (2000) research into charter schools and Davies and Quirke's (2005) study of third sector schools in Toronto. Implications for the provision of state sector education are explored.